


As Above, So Below

by AAvery



Category: ATEEZ (Band), ONEUS (Band), Other minor appearances - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Comedic Aspects, Eventual Sexual Content, Fallen Angels, Fantasy Creatures, High Fantasy, M/M, Magic, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Royalty, Slow Burn, Specifically Christian Mythos, Tags updated as chapters are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28710201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAvery/pseuds/AAvery
Summary: No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell. As Above, So Below.When Jongho is dragged into a conflict he wanted nothing to do with, he learns truths about the world he thought he had all figured out. The myths. The legends. All those talks of angels and demons battling over humanity and laying waste to the continent he called home were all true. The fairytales he grew up with and the tall tales he scoffed at as an adult, he would come to find all of it had a basis in reality. An ancient house forgotten and disgraced for their betrayal against humanity, an angelic prince who sacrificed himself for the greater good of the world, evil and cruel demons who destroyed everything in their path. All of it...History is always written by the winners, however. Did the myths get everything right? If evil demons exist below, what lies above? And what happens to the creatures stuck in the middle?
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	As Above, So Below

~*~

It was cold; though, not anything unexpected for this region of Aurora. The sun was just barely peaking out above the mountains far off in the distance, early morning rays setting the frost blanketing the forest alight with sparkles. Wrapped in a thick, fur-lined coat, the cold was bearable, Jongho supposed, and the dense woods of the Centauri Forest blocked out most of the wind as well.

He stretched out his fingers from around the reigns of his horse, wishing he had invested in a nice pair of gloves in the capital of the hold before setting out for their job. Mingi, however, had insisted they save their money; the last time he took advice from the half-demon when it came to matters of the cold. The cold didn’t affect Demonspawn the same way it did humans, Jongho thought bitterly, glaring towards Mingi for around the twelfth time. He wasn’t even sure what _exactly_ Mingi had in mind when he told him to save the money. It wasn’t like they were going to be passing by tons of merchants in the middle of a forest. They would also be getting paid a rather generous amount of gold after this little excursion, but it had been early and Jongho hadn’t felt like arguing so he had gone along with the suggestion though now he regretted it.

Their task for this morning was a relatively simple one; something Jongho had done upwards of a hundred different times throughout his career as a sell-sword.

Apparently, numerous villagers from around Equuleus Hold had reported to their Lord that there had been strange lights flashing above the forest and horrible, indescribable noises echoing for hours just the other night. It had all finally stopped after something large fell from the sky with a loud boom and enough force that it made the earth shake from leagues away.

Jongho had been personally requested by Lord Kim Youngjo of Castor, being one of the only mercenaries the Lord trusted enough for this task. He was unable to mobilize any guards or soldiers to investigate the reports due to rising tensions between Aurora and its neighboring kingdom, Borealis. There was much unrest as of late and with these strange happenings being so close to the border, one could never be too careful. Sending a mercenary who held no political affiliations of his own in secrecy, however, would go entirely overlooked and raise no suspicion. Jongho tried not to concern himself with the games nobles had to play to save face, but he took the job regardless. It wouldn’t do well to ignore the request of the highest authority in the hold and a large influx of gold was always welcome.

So, he and Mingi had set out to track the strange… “thing” that had fallen from the sky.

It had been a rather uneventful horse ride through the forest so far. Nothing looked out of the ordinary; nothing to suggest a battle with magic involved had taken place; no out of place or strange creatures to be seen. So far, after two hours of following the path through the trees, everything was normal.

Well, everything except for…

_Quack!_

Jongho flinched at the unnecessarily loud noise the animal next to him made.

“Is there _anything_ you can do to make it stop that?” Jongho snapped at Mingi, his patience wearing quite thin. The half-demon looked at him incredulously, as if Jongho had just said something utterly offensive. His ebony horns glinted in the morning light, flashing in Jongho’s eyes occasionally as he moved.

“ _It_ is a _she_ and her name is Kat, thank you,” Mingi retorted, adjusting the straps over his saddle bag to make sure the duck couldn’t escape any further than just poking its head out. The green duck was a relatively new member of their traveling party. Mingi had summoned it as a familiar completely on accident last night instead of the fire spell he had been trying to conjure for practice. Neither of them had been able to dispel the creature much to Jongho’s frustrations so they were stuck with it for the time being. The duck, for whatever reason, really _did not_ like Jongho. He had woken up to it nibbling on his toes and whenever its short attention span focused on Jongho it would erupt into a very loud series of quacks and honks. Setting it free hadn’t worked either; it would fly around for a bit but would ultimately come right back to terrorize them and their horses. Mingi had strapped it into his saddle bag after the second time the duck had attempted to dive-bomb Jongho. “And what do you want me to do? She’s an animal, Jongho. She’s not gonna understand if I tell her to shut up.”

“You named it?”

“Of course I named her, she’s my familiar for the time being. And you’re stuck with her so you might as well try to play nice,” Mingi huffed.

Jongho glanced at the bird, grimacing as it started quacking at him once again. He briefly wondered if it would be possible to spit-roast a summoned familiar…

“She probably senses your grumpy vibes,” Mingi teased. Jongho rolled his eyes.

He really should’ve been used to Mingi’s antics after almost five years of traveling and working together. Mingi had seen Jongho practicing what basic magic he could use all those years ago and begged to learn what he knew and travel with him. Jongho had been working alone for years by that point after his parents had disappeared and he’d been hesitant at first. But Mingi had looked so desperate and lonely and above all else _afraid_ —reminding Jongho of when he had first been left alone to fend for himself—so he had given in moments later. It was hard for a Demonspawn to live a normal life to begin with. They were a constant reminder of the war that had happened centuries ago when demons terrorized the continent, and they were always easy to spot. They didn’t exactly blend in with their twisted horns, pointed ears, long tails, unnaturally colored skin and mono-colored eyes; they were almost always chased out of towns, rumored to bring bad luck wherever they went. Mingi himself had a light red skin tone, with light blue shining eyes and black, tall-standing and twisted horns. Not exactly conducive for living a normal life amongst humans. But a job as a mercenary was the perfect place for one since Jongho hardly ever stayed in a city or town for longer than a few days. Despite Mingi’s usually playful attitude towards everything, he really was a skilled hunter and tracker. His skill with a bow was unmatched by anyone Jongho had ever met. They often argued over silly things—like the duck—and despite being a naturally magical race, Mingi really was awful at magic, but he appreciated the half-demon’s company.

“I’m not grumpy,” Jongho mumbled. “This job is just utterly boring, and the duck won’t shut up.”

As if to defy Jongho further, the duck erupted into another long and loud honk.

“Hey, but we’re getting paid a lot of gold for this boring job,” Mingi countered.

“I’m not sure it’s worth my sanity,” Jongho sighed.

“You’re so dramatic,” Mingi laughed. “It was probably just some lesser drakes arguing over territory and it got a little more violent than normal. Or it could be absolutely nothing at all.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

Jongho knew Mingi was right, or at least he hoped Mingi was right about it being a lesser drake skirmish. Even if drakes didn’t come this far down the mountains…

They continued riding for a while longer before stopping to let the horses drink from a stream while they stretched their legs.

“How much further should we ride before turning back?” Mingi asked. Jongho shrugged before answering.

“Maybe another hour,” he said, making sure the straps of his saddle were fastened properly. He turned towards Mingi, catching a strip of dried meat Mingi tossed his way, nodding gratefully. “I have no intention of spending the night in this forest during this time of the year. Another hour means four back to Castor just in time for a hot dinner.”

“Sounds good to me. I didn’t realize it was that cold out.”

Jongho shook his head with a small laugh, gnawing off a bite of meat.

“Even your stupid duck was shivering before the sun came up.”

A thought struck Jongho just then. He hadn’t heard anything from the duck in a while.

“For the last time, my duck isn’t stupid. She’s actually—”

“Shh,” Jongho quieted Mingi, carefully trying to listen to his surroundings.

“What? What is it?” Mingi asked, sounding slightly annoyed at being cut off so suddenly but knowing Jongho well enough to know it was something serious.

“When was the last time your familiar made any noise?” Jongho asked, walking over to the saddle bag the duck had completely burrowed itself in.

“I don’t know. Maybe when we passed by the split in that road that would’ve taken us north?” Mingi said.

Jongho opened the saddle bag to find the duck curled in on itself, her head tucked tightly under one wing and shivering slightly. Jongho ran his fingers across the sleek green feathers, warm to the touch. Kat didn’t even move nor react to Jongho being so close to her.

“Do you hear anything?” Jongho asked next as he closed the bag again. He stayed quiet for another few seconds, letting Mingi listen to their surroundings as he did so again as well.

The wind blew quietly through the trees, gently rustling what few leaves the trees still had. There was the sound of trickling water from the stream and the sounds their horses made. But that was it; an unnerving sort of quiet that had no place in a forest normally teaming with life.

Jongho hadn’t even noticed at first that he could no longer hear the bird’s chirping, the occasional howl of a faraway wolfpack, or the low grunts of deer calling to each other.

“There aren’t any animals,” Mingi came to the same conclusion.

Jongho mumbled a few words under his breath, casting a quick life detection spell for the nearby area. He was surprised to find that there were lifeforms all around them, though almost none of them were moving. Almost as if everything around them were hiding, too scared to leave whatever it was they called home.

“I don’t think it was a couple drakes everyone saw over the forest,” Jongho said, Mingi looked nervous. He started looking over their surroundings a lot closer than before. He had absolutely no idea what they could be dealing with but whatever it was, he and Mingi definitely were not equipped to deal with it.

Jongho’s well-practiced eye noticed the tops of the trees nearby had been sliced off roughly, as if something large had flown across them. A few more trees in that direction had faced the same fate but that was as far as Jongho could see.

He rushed back over to his horse and quickly unclipped his sword from the saddle. He slung it over his shoulder before turning back to Mingi.

“What do you think it was then?” Mingi asked, eyeing the same patch of trees Jongho had noticed.

“No idea,” Jongho admitted. “Whatever it was though, we must be close now.”

Mingi nodded in agreement.

“What do we do?”

“You stay here with the horses, keep them calm but be ready to make a quick getaway if whatever fell from the sky is up for a fight, or even worse, whatever caused it to fall is lurking around here still.”

“What are you going to do? You’re not going to fight it on your own, are you?” Mingi asked, voice very clearly laced with fear.

“Don’t be stupid, I’m just gonna see if I can find out what _it_ is before we report back to the capital, Then Lord Kim can decide how to deal with it. Hopefully, whatever it is died when it fell.”

“Let’s hope,” Mingi agreed. He caught Jongho’s arm before he could walk away. Jongho looked back at him. “Just be careful, don’t do anything reckless.”

“I promise. You know the signal if I’m in trouble.”

Mingi nodded as he let Jongho go.

Jongho followed the carnage deeper into the woods away from the main path. Soon it wasn’t just the tops of the trees that had been destroyed but a linear stretch of entire trees. Jongho carefully climbed over thick trunks and dense branches, trying his best to make as little noise as possible, right hand poised to unsheathe his sword at a moment’s notice. The closer he got to the source of the destruction, the worse it got. A large trench of dirt about four or five yards wide had been carved out of the earth as the thing slid for another few hundred feet through the forest, the ground still smoking even a day later. Trees were scorched around here; it was a miracle the forest hadn’t caught fire.

When he finally came to the end of the trail, Jongho hid behind a large, fallen tree, just barely peaking out over the top to try and get a glimpse of whatever beast had caused all this. The ground was smoking, little flashes of ash rising from the ground, but Jongho couldn’t see any great and terrible creature within the carnage.

He unsheathed his sword just to be safe, before stepping out from behind his cover. He approached slowly and carefully, being mindful of his step. The closer he got, the more confused he was. Had the “thing” that fell from the sky been well enough to get back up and flee? Even more troubling a thought: What had caused such a huge monster to be flung to the ground in the first place? The smoke got worse the closer Jongho got; he used a wind spell to keep most of it away from his face.

Then he reached the creature that had been the cause of all the commotion. Jongho barely believed what he saw in front of him.

Curled up within the billowing smoke and ash was a man, barely breathing and completely naked. His black hair was plastered to his face with sweat, glinting an unnatural blue where the light caught it and pointed ears sticking out from beneath it. He was small, probably smaller than Jongho and very slim, with little muscle mass. The man’s eyes were closed but his pretty face was contorted into an expression of clear pain and his entire body was shaking. A gold, shimmering liquid seeped out of cuts from all over his body. But most notably about the man’s appearance was a long, pointed tail that was wrapped tightly around his left leg, and three pairs of large horns more intricate than any Jongho had seen on a Demonspawn before.

He took another hesitant step further, completely at a loss for what exactly he should do. But his shock made him careless. He stepped on a clod of dirt with a resounding crunch and suddenly the strange man’s eyes were snapping open, bright, _purple,_ eyes.

The last thing Jongho saw was a blur of motion and a flash of purple before he succumbed to complete darkness.

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write fantasy F O R E V E R but recently got hit with the worst writer's block ever. But I'm totes back now and ready to crank this boi out. I'm so excited to write. I'm a huuuuge fan of Tolkien and actually started writing in the first place because I wanted to write a story like his. So I'm finally going back to ma roots :3 lemme know what you think!! 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!  
> Follow me on twitter if you wanna for general ramblings and updates on stories! @AAvery151
> 
> -AAvery <3


End file.
